I did something crazy this weekend.  I went to the mall on Black Friday.  I know this is the norm for many people, but having worked in retail for many years, I avoid peak shopping hours like the plague! 

The reason for the pilgrimage was that my oldest daughter needed a new phone.  Need is a relative term; she was eligible for a new phone and needed instant gratification.  She had done her homework and knew exactly what she wanted.  We completed the transaction in exactly 20 minutes and she and her sister went off to shop.  That left me alone at the Verizon kiosk—dangerous! 

I’m relatively new to the BlackBerry world.  I got my very first BlackBerry in March of this year.  It has quickly become a habit that I can’t break.  My family teases me that I am incomplete without my Smartphone.  Sad, but true. 

I have the Curve 8330.  The choices I had in March were the 8330, the Storm or the Pearl.  I liked the full keyboard on the Curve so that’s what I went with.  For the most part it’s been a great phone. But like most people, now I want more!

I’m due for an upgrade in March, so I figured a little window shopping wouldn’t hurt.  First I checked out the Curve 8530.  It’s a nice phone, but the first thing I noticed was that the keyboard was a little smaller than that of my current phone.  The other thing I was surprised to see was that the camera did not have a flash.  That’s not a big deal, but surprising nonetheless.   The camera is 2 megapixels.  Not great, but it works.  The display was 2.5” diameter and the resolution is 320 x 240 pixels.  The feature I love is the track pad!  I will go on record as saying my next phone, whichever one it is, will have a track pad. 

The next phone I checked was the Tour.  I’ve had my eye on this one for a while.  Of course, it has the track ball, so that will probably rule it out.  It does have a lot of nice features.  The keyboard seems a little larger than the Curve 8530.  The screen is 480 x 360 pixels and it has a 3.2 mp camera with a flash.

I don’t know why I tortured myself like this, but I strolled over to AT&T to check out the new Bold.  Yes, it’s beautiful, but I have a contract with Verizon.  Torture!

Since I have to wait till March, I’m sure I will have more choices by then.  The phone I really want to see is the Tour 2.   Rumor has it that this phone was originally scheduled for release in last January 2010, but that production has been moved up!   This phone could be the best of everything for me, track pad and all!